Tunisian American Entrepreneur Samy Kobrosly Lands a Deal on Shark Tank
By: Yaseen Rashed/ Arab America Contributing Writer
Have you ever been in the mood for a good, light snack on the go that is both healthy and delicious? A Tunisian American entrepreneur named Samy Kobrosly was in the mood for just that when he created Snacklins – a puffy, crispy chip made from natural ingredients. When coming up with the idea, Samy found that the only snacks on the market were ones that were either artificially flavored and high in calorie count or ones that were ridiculously expensive and not tasty. Having a background working around DC’s finest restaurants, Samy was already familiar with the food, and it didn’t take long to create the delicious flavors of Snacklins. However, when he first launched his company back in 2016, he never would’ve expected to end up on the hit TV show Shark Tank. But Samy’s dreams came true in October of 2019, where he was not only featured on the show but managed to land a really good offer from the billionaire investor, Mark Cuban.
Samy’s company, Snacklins, is unique in that it offers an alternative to commercialized snacks and chips like Doritos or Sun Chips. The snack itself is made from primarily yuca, mushrooms, and onions. Instead of measuring the nutrition facts by complicated serving sizes like other companies, Snacklins advertises the 80 calories per bag slogan allowing their customers to finish the whole bag “guilt-free”. The snacks are also made with only 6-8 ingredients that are all healthy and non processed. And with only 90mg of sodium, Snacklins wins by a margin against the leading competition in offering the healthiest options while retaining that delicious flavor. The snack is also a really good alternative to people with dietary restrictions. Snacks are vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and kosher which adheres to a large part of the population allowing everyone to also enjoy this tasty snack.
When Samy pitched his company on Shark Tank, he initially asked for an investment of $250,000 in exchange for a 2.5% stake of the company- a near $10 million valuation. However, some of the sharks were hesitant despite the company’s 10 fold growth over the last year, citing that the 30% profit margin was too low and the competitions were too high to risk. However, despite this, Mark Cuban was still interested as he fell in love with the snack’s flavor and marketability potential in a growing nutritiously conscious society. Mark Cuban also had to consider that he wouldn’t be the only investor in this project as Samy himself only owns 30% of the company. When questioned by Mark Cuban about it, Samy replied, saying, “I think, with all due respect, I used to own 100% of nothing, and I am living the American dream. I am a Muslim, first-generation American, who is now pitching a vegan pork rind on ‘Shark Tank.’ If that’s not the American dream, I don’t know what is.”
The show then went on a seemingly long commercial break where Cuban and Samy negotiated a potential deal. Mark Cuban ended up offering Samy the initial $250,000 in exchange for a 5% straight equity of the company and another 5% advisory share. Samy accepted the rather good deal and signed the partnership with Cuban. After the filming of the show, Mark Cuban was quoted saying, “All you need to know is that we literally go through boxes of Snacklins every month at my house because they are low cal, taste great, and have super clean ingredients. We use them for everything: snacks, dipping, break them up on salads, you name it. When I travel I have them delivered to my hotel for snacking.”
The future seems to be very bright for Samy and his company. Because his product is rather a niche in its marketing, the exposure to it being on national TV, and having a well-known name like Mark Cuban on board, Snacklins is able to get the word out and reach different audiences informing them about their snack. The company offers only 4 flavors for now: barbeque, Chesapeake bay, miso ginger, and nacho. However, in the future, Samy wishes to expand on these flavors and hopefully offer more to his customers as well as potentially creating family size bags. Samy also wants to increase his product availability because his snacks are mainly sold on the east coast in 7/11 or in general market stores. Customers can’t wait to see just how big this product will get in a couple of years.
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